How to Save Higher Education

A polemic on simple solutions and tough choices

Photo by Good Free Photos on Unsplash

The university president sends out a memo that says, “Sorry, suckas.” Not literally — you have to read between the lines. It mentions higher course loads and reduced travel money. Tuition has gone up 20 percent, with no explanation why. It’s a familiar story to professors.

My students think I’m ripping them off, that their tuition goes directly into my pocket as their overpaid teacher. The semester becomes a kind of game, where I drop little hints that I’m not rich. If only they could see my car.

Every other year, hiring freezes go into effect. Class sizes increase. The upper administration chants “do more with less.”

Meanwhile, the football coach sees a slight salary bump. He’ll get to retire, but the average college teacher will work until they drop dead in their 80s.

It doesn’t matter to the people in charge. A dean treats himself to a new luxury vehicle. A vice-chancellor goes on vacation during the first two weeks of the semester, leaving a dozen forms unsigned — forms he created to “make things more efficient.”

Not every university suffers from these problems, but enough of them do. Presidents and chancellors spew jargon at us, students, and taxpayers. They talk about vision and…